"We need to move to that treeline," Helo stated, kneeling down as he checked their supplies, "it will give us cover. From there we can move into the city itself."
"If we survive that long to make it to the city." Kara muttered darkly, looking around at the now diminished crew. They were huddled next to the pile of supplies, a map lay on the ground between them. Sharon was pointing towards the Delphi Museum on the map, her finger sliding along the paper, mapping the best possible route.
"Lt. Agathon," Laura said, pushing her glasses up her nose as she turned in his direction, "do you think that the cylons are aware of our feint?"
"Probably," Admitted Helo, "which is why we really need to get moving."
Racetrack sighed as she got up, stretching and picking the map up off of the ground. She rolled it carefully and placed it in a container, similiar to the one Kara had used to hold the Arrow of Apollo. It was imperative that they kept the map safe. It had been so long since they had seen Caprica, directions weren't familiar to them.
"Starbuck," Athena called to Kara as they both stood up, "you take point."
"Gladly." She stated, her eyes burning as she looked at Laura. She turned away, pushing towards the supplies and picking up a medkit. After she securely attached the medkit, Kara unholstered her pistol, keeping it pointed downwards as she pushed through the valley, towards the forest in front of her. The rest of the crew watched silently as Kara walked away, confused about her attitude.
"I'll cover us. Athena and Racetrack, stick to the President." Helo murmured, slinging a bag over his back and unholstering his own weapon. Athena and Racetrack both nodded, their hands hovering at their sidearms as they picked up their own bags and luggage.
Laura moved forward to pick up some supplies, but found the ground empty around her. She turned around to scold the crew for not treating her equally, but before she could, Athena held up a large plastic box.
"Could you take this ma'am?" Athena asked, pushing it into Laura's arms. Laura smiled warmly in response, only happy to help.
"Okay guys, let's keep up with Starbuck. Move out!" Helo said loudly, gently nudging the President in the right direction. Racetrack, moved forward slowly, her head turned to make sure that Laura was keeping up. Athena walked about half a step behind Laura, looking towards the trees. It had been too long since they had seen such life. She was surprised that the radiation had hardly changed them. Surely the plants and trees would all have withered away by now?
Helo looked back at the raptor, his eyes scanning the surroundings. He was looking for a flash of red, was listening for the heavy pounding of the Centurion's footprints. Taking one last look to make sure he couldn't see an enemy or hadn't forgotten any supplies, Helo turned around, following the crew. It's only a matter of time, he thought, before a group of centurions find our raptor and track us down.
A small part of him hoped that Starbuck's assumptions were incorrect, that the cylons really had abandoned this planet completely, but the strategically placed raiders orbiting the planet told him otherwise.
"Move faster!" he shouted to Starbuck, who was up front. She turned around and nodded, before signalling the rest to hurry up. Hopefully they'd find some sort of shelter before too long. It was starting to get very dark.
....
Aaron Doral looked at the retreating figures and smiled. He placed his hand in his suit pocket and turned around to his companion, making sure that he wasn't the only one who was seeing this.
"I was right." It was all he said, his voice confident and slightly mocking.
His companion, a tall woman with platinum blonde hair moved forward, her lips slightly apart as she squinted to see the 5 humans wandering away from them.
"Why?" she asked softly, looking towards Doral, "why would they come back?"
"I don't know," replied Doral, turning his head in her direction. His eyes were glittering with malice, "but i want to find out."
"What do we do? Send the centurions in and get them to take prisoners?"
"Now, six, you know better than that," Doral said clearly, watching as the humans made it to the treeline, "we have ... other options."
The model six's brow furrowed slightly, her confusion apparent on her delicate features.
"Options other than send in the centurions?"
"I didn't say it wouldn't include the centurions."
"What are you planning Doral? We are suppose to agree on everything."
Doral just shook his head, silencing her. He continued to watch the human crew before they disappeared entirely from view. They were fascinating really, humans. The cylons looked the same, bled the same, carried the same emotions, memories, everything. Yet there was something about the humans that were different. Their flaws set them apart. The more human cylons were still just machines, evolved from their metal counterparts. They carried no flaws, no weaknesses. Doral was glad. They had been watching them since their raptor landed, and already he and Six could pick out the human's major weaknesses. In fact, when he saw the male human look around at the scene before him, Doral realised that he could use one of their weaknesses against them.
"I need two centurions. Soon we'll know all we need to. Why they're here, where their fleet currently are, everything."
Six nodded, slowly stepping out from view to get the centurions. Doral just stood, his hand still inside his pocket, the smile still fixed on his face. The humans wouldn't last long at all.
....
Her hair was just as soft as he had imagined it would be. His fingers ran through it, the auburn strands glinting in the light. He had always wanted to run his fingers through her hair. He hated watching her from a distance, wrapped up in their titles. A small selfish part of him wanted her all to himself, away from the Fleet and the media and the Galactica crew. Yet he knew he couldn't. They could be nothing more than friends. He had accepted that, but as his hands moved away from her hair and ran down her face slowly, he couldn't help but wish that he was no longer the Admiral, that she was no longer the President.
"Bill." She sighed as he stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb. He was content to just look at her face, watch her expressions as he continued his ministrations.
"Bill." This time her voice sounded more resolute, more Presidential.
He looked confused, pulling away slightly.
"What is it, Laura?" He asked quietly.
"Demand Peace." She stated, her hand lightly stroking his wrist.
"What?" This wasn't possible. Did she have any idea what she was frakking talking about?
"Demand Peace!" Her voice grew louder, and suddenly she was no longer there in front of him. Bill found himself standing in front of the brig bars, opposite a man with a sickly smile.
"Demand Peace!" The man shouted, his voice distant as alarms went off, gaining volume, until his ears rang.
His phone buzzed loudly. Bill Adama's eyes shot open, taking in all of his surroundings. A dim light emanated from the lamp over on his desk, but other than that his quarters were shrouded in darkness. His head was swimming with thoughts of his dream. It didn't usually end that way, Laura echoing the words of the Cylon Sympathisers, and Bill couldn't get his head round it. Was it some sort of message? Was the President's opinion on the matter getting into his subconscious? Was it Laura telling him to be lenient, to accept the group? He shook his head, smiling slightly. He had been around her too long, he never liked to interpret his dreams, just acknowledging them was enough for him. Besides, President Roslin would never agree with the group, nor would he.
He slowly got up from his rack, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. He picked up the phone reluctantly, still stifling a yawn.
"Adama, go."
"Sir, we have Apollo on the line, he's requesting to speak to you, he says it's urgent." Dee's voice greeted him. He could imagine her now, bright eyed in CIC, headset on and ready to go. He rubbed his left eye, willing himself to be more awake.
"Thankyou Dee. I'll be in CIC shortly."
"Yessir."
Adama hung up the phone, wanting nothing more than to return to his rack and fall back asleep. Let someone else deal with it. He knew he couldn't, however, and stood up, searching for his uniform in the dark. It took a few moments, but he finally managed to get changed into uniform. As he was putting on his Admiral pins, the phone started to buzz again. He sighed, before moving over and picking it up once again.
"Adama, go."
"where the frak are you Bill?" Saul's voice echoed into Adama's ear and the Admiral pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I was just about to leave. Is there something you need to tell me?" He knew that Tigh wouldn't tell him the story over the phone, he was just a very impatient person.
"Oh you wanna hear this one from your son." Adama picked up a dark humour to his XO's words and reconsidered just getting back into his rack and falling asleep again.
"Why do i get the feeling you are enjoying this immensely, Saul?""
"I'm not," Tigh denied, "i just like to live on the darker side of life."
Adama hung up the phone, before striding out of his quarters, on his way to to CIC.